Roasted Veg & Channa Salad

I created this recipe recently while going through the process of cleaning out my fridge and pantry it originally consisted of roasted beets, eggplant, pumpkin, onion and garlic but this time around I didn’t have any eggplant so I left it out and added pimentos. As it turns out, roasted pimentos are really delicious. The different flavours from each of the veggies used here are really made more pronounce by roasting. With this in mind we’re going to go light on the seasoning because we want each ingredient to shine through.

Ingredients:

4 Cups Pumpkin (cubed)

4 Cups Beet Root (cubed)

4 Large Onions cut into quarters

1 Can Chick Peas

6 Pimentos

6 Cloves Garlic

One Bundle of Basil

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

Salt & Black Pepper (to taste)

Mustard Greens (optional)

Method:

Cube some pumpkin, season with salt and black pepper, drizzle with olive oil, toss and set aside.

Repeat that process with some cubed beet root.

Lay out the beet root, pumpkin, onion cut into quarters, a few pimentos and a few cloves of garlic

Drizzle with some more olive oil and place into the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes

Slice roasted pimentos

Mash roasted garlic into a paste

For some fresh herb action, I’m using thai basil… I got this in the market.

Add your veggies, along with the chick peas to a bowl, add the basil, toss it lightly. Try to be as delicate as possible so you don’t mash up the pumpkin too much.

Enjoy

Of course you can add meat and some feta cheese to this if you want but its perfect as is. I’m serving it on a bed of mustard greens for some green leafy vegetable action. You might think the mustard greens would be too bitter but they actually add a nice contrast to the sweetness you get from the roasted pumpkin and onion.